The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, January 15 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.

2019 American Political Science AssociationConference Group on Taiwan Studies (CGOTS)

Call for Papers

The 2019 American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting will be held from August 29 to September 1, 2019, in Washington, DC. The conference theme is “Populism and Privilege”

CGOTS invites paper and panel proposals on Taiwan’s domestic politics, cross-Strait issues, and international relations that are consistent with the theme of “Populism and Privilege.”

No recent political development has been more striking than the rise to power of self-identified populist movements around the globe, whose main unifying trait is their claim to champion “the people” against entrenched selfish “elites.” These movements display differences that have sparked debates over which, if any, should be called “populist”; how they compare with past “populisms”; and what “populism” is. The current partisans, often labeled populist, have more often been on the right than the left, including anti-immigrant, anti-globalization, ardently nationalist parties such as Fidesz in Hungary; the Law and Justice Party in Poland; and the Trump Republicans in the United States. Until recently, however, left-wing populist movements were ascendant in Latin America. In fact, they remain important there and in other regions, something suggested by support for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 American primaries. Some positions increasingly labeled as populist, such as the ruling regime across the Strait, the Chinese nationalism of Xi Jinping, represents forms of state capitalism that are harder to identify on either the left or right. Indeed, modern “populist” movements have a wide variety of economic agendas, even as most push against the leading institutions of the global economic order, such as the IMF, the World Bank, and multilateral trade agreements. Some, such as in Erdogan’s Turkey and Mohdi’s India, are stridently religious; others, like the anti-immigrant populisms in Europe and the United States, often feature racial and cultural themes.

When comparing Taiwan to other established or even newly established democracies, the level of populism in Taiwan is considerably mild. But the 2014 Sunflower Students Movement and other social movements such as the one against the revision of labor rights law during Tsai Ing-wen’s early administration, are signs of the rise of populism. For the 2019 Annual Meeting, we encourage participants to consider questions about “Populism and Privilege” in Taiwan, especially those that speak to the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan’s democracy under the theme perspective, and to various domestic and international issues related to threats imposed by the Chinese populist regime. These topics could include research about the emergence of populist movements among citizens through studies of public opinion and social media, the relations between political parties and their strategies during electoral campaigns, changing of social issues and policies on immigration, trade, labor rights, and minorities after DPP regained power in 2016, and the dynamics of ideological shifts within more than two decades of Taiwan’s democracy. The next general local election in Taiwan is scheduled in December, 2018. How will the electoral outcome change the landscape of Taiwan’s political composition, and how will the existing social issues, such as rising inequality, stagnant wages, and an aging society be managed? How will the issues related to social justice and gaps between elites and commons play a role in this election, and how these issues will be altered after the election?

We would also especially welcome proposals that utilize innovative approaches to understand how China factor influences Taiwan’s politics, cross-Strait relations, and Taiwan’s role in the global society. How would and will the ongoing trade war between China and the United States affect the role of Taiwan in the current US-China relations? How would and will the changing dynamics of the relations between North Korea and the United States influence Taiwan through the perspective of global and East Asian regional security? How would and will the power/party alternation from Ma Ying-jeou (KMT) to Tsai Ing-wen (DPP) alter the cross-Strait relations? What is the impact of Tsai’s New Southbound Policy on Taiwan’s economic performance and what will be the future direction of it? Other related proposals aim to address Taiwan’s international status and the US-Taiwan relations are strongly encouraged as they provide profound implications to policymakers in both Taiwan and the United States.